The Syrian government on Saturday night condemned Israel for allegedly killing a Syrian intelligence agent on the border with the Golan Heights.
According to the official Sanaa news agency, “the cabinet stressed in a statement that those terrorist acts would enhance the Syrian Arab people’s determination to continue to oppose the occupation and liberate the occupied Syrian Golan.”
According to the report, the Syrian cabinet “condemned that cowardly criminal act”.
Syrian media reports said earlier on Saturday that Israeli forces shot dead a former security prisoner who later fled to Syria, served in parliament and allegedly worked against Israel in Syrian intelligence in the town of Ain Altinah. did.
The state-run Sanaa news agency said Midhat as-Saleh was targeted by bullets rather than air strikes.
According to Al-Jazeera, he was shot by an Israeli sniper as he was standing near his home, near the border with Israel.
Israel’s military did not comment on the matter, in line with its policy of not accepting specific actions in Syria, in retaliation for attacks from the country.
The alleged killing appears to be linked to Israel’s ongoing efforts to prevent Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group from establishing a permanent base of operations on the Golan border.
As-Saleh, from the Golan Druze village of Majdal Shams, was jailed in Israel for security-related offenses for 12 years until his release in 1997. He then fled across the border to Syria, serving as a member of the Syrian parliament, that is, as the head of the “Golan Heights Portfolio”, according to Syrian media.
Midhat As-Saleh (Screenshot/Channel 13 News)
In recent years, he has served in Syrian intelligence, still focusing on the country’s efforts to recapture the Golan Heights, which was captured by Israel in 1967 and effectively recaptured in 1981. was captured by Jerusalem.
As-Saleh has worked in the past to recruit people from Majdal Shams – a city whose residents do not usually hold Israeli citizenship and who often identify with Damascus – to serve as the property of the Syrian government. and to gather intelligence in Israel.
pity for your soul
Martyrdom of free prisoner Medhat al-Saleh, as a result of being targeted by a Zionist enemy, at the site of Ain al-Tineh, in front of the captured city of Majdal Shams. pic.twitter.com/zZxIqZxgci— suhaib (@_suhaib001) 16 October 2021
Israel has conducted hundreds of airstrikes against military bases linked to Iran in Syria over the years – most recently on wednesday night, according to Syrian media reports – but rarely acknowledges or discusses specific details of its operations.
Israel fears Iranian incursions along its northern border, and has repeatedly attacked Iran-linked facilities and weapons convoys earmarked for Hezbollah.
